Bead mess, part II

After a whole weekend spent working on my dream beading area, all I can wonder is what have I gotten myself into!?

This is exactly why I need to finish this: Moments after I started picking up, a bead spill! CueCat down! (Merrisa Brown/mySA.com)

I started Friday night by measuring the space I had, and figuring out the best/cheapest/nicest storage I could get for the area. After searching online for what I wanted and where I could get it, I did the fun part first: shopping!

I started with a trip to the Container Store for just one thing, but the bulk of what I purchased, I bought at Target. We’ll talk products and costs in a future entry.

On Saturday, I started by emptying all bead and craft items from the existing bead area, entertainment center and desk into my dining room, then cleaned the table and vacuumed and shampooed the carpet.

The weirdest thing I found while emptying out the space: behind the table, a split ring was looped around a piece of the wall's texturing. How did THAT happen? As soon as I touched it, it fell. (Merrisa Brown/mySA.com)

After the carpet dried, the hard part was figuring out how to put everything back. I figured I’d start by putting the storage containers where I wanted them to be, then putting all the beads, wire, thread, tools, buttons and whatever else you can think of back, organizing it as I went along. It sounds WAY simpler than it is.

What complicated matters was I realized that one of my ideas (putting shallow drawers for my tools under my beads) wasn’t going to work with the containers I’d purchased — they were just too flimsy to support the weight of thousands (maybe millions?) of beads. Although the drawers didn’t collapse or break, the plastic was compromised enough that they were hard to open and nearly impossible to shut. It wouldn’t have been fun to live with it, so I ended up returning them Sunday for something different.

I also realized that while I bought containers for everything, I didn’t plan to divide those containers in any way, and so a lot of my supplies were left floating without bins or baskets to help make them neater.

The beading area's not done yet, but at least someone approves. (Merrisa Brown/mySA.com)

So I ended up spending a lot of my time Sunday revisiting the Container Store and Target, and I have to go back to the Container Store again tomorrow! (Not that I’m complaining, I could totally live there! )

It was a productive weekend, don’t get me wrong. But I’m a little frustrated that there’s still so much to sort and put way. What have I gotten myself into!?

Keep watching for updates on Twitter and Twitpic … I’ve been using the hashtag #BeadMess. Happy organizing and happy beading!